Now the Hell Will Start

One Soldier’s Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World WarII

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Overview

An epic saga of hubris , cruelty, and redemption, Now the Hell Will Start tells the remarkable tale of the greatest manhunt of World War II. Herman Perry, besieged by the hardships of the Indo-Burmese jungle and the racism meted out by his white commanding officers, found solace in opium and marijuana. But on one fateful day, Perry shot his unarmed white lieutenant in the throes of an emotional collapse and fled into the jungle.

Brendan I. Koerner spent nearly five years chasing Perry’s ghost to the most remote corners of India and Burma. Along the way, he uncovered the forgotten story of the Ledo Road’s GIs, for whom Jim Crow was as powerful an enemy as the Japanese-and for whom Herman Perry, dubbed the jungle king, became an unlikely folk hero.

Praise

” Koerner’s gripping account of a little-known manhunt details the brutality of jungle life while also illuminating larger issues of race and prejudice during the war.” - Entertainment Weekly

” Remarkable . . . Koerner has done a great deal of digging into obscure corners of dusty records and has managed to reconstruct a tale well worth telling.” -Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book Review

” A fascinating, untold story of the Second World War, an incendiary social document, and a thrilling, campfire tale adventure.” -George Pelacanos